Hidden Valley RV Resort, Milton, WI

We have had a great time so far here in Wisconsin, the weather has been fabulous. When compared to last year where it was at or close to 100 almost every day in August we are enjoying low seventies to mid eighties and in the fifties at night. It is great.

Ok, we are done with baseball and into football now. Mason is playing football, this is full contact football, and they have the pads, helmets everything. We have seen a scrimmage but tomorrow night it is a game, it should be fun. Tonight the league has a fundraiser at the local Culver’s restaurant, the kids are going to be the servers, it should be fun, I love the turtle sundaes.

We took care of the kids last Friday while their folks went out to dinner. It was fun and we get to do it again this Thursday for the day and then next week for a few days, it is the reason we are here and we are enjoying every minute of it

We met the kids for dinner Saturday night and Madyson had her IPod and was playing Candy Crush but I don’t think she was getting anywhere so she asked me to play for her. Now if you have never played the game or know anything about it, be warned it is highly addictive and will take up all your time if you let it. I enjoy playing it, it is very frustrating at some levels, but I also lay off it for a while,   sometimes. Anyway, Madyson wanted me to play for her, but she would watch and every now and then, she would jump in and move a piece which most of the time negated a plan of moves I was forming in my head. I would look at her, she would just smile, and we would move on to the next screen.

Mason has an IPod also and he plays a game that is similar to the Sims City game, I don’t remember the name even though he has told me many times. (I guess my Luminosity training isn’t doing very well, more on that later.) I tried to understand the game but I guess it is over my head.

We went and saw the movie Despicable Me 2, I loved it. I guess I am into movies where you don’t have to think too much and just sit back and enjoy it. I would like to see the animated movie Airplanes but I am waiting for the right opportunity.

Just finished a book by W.E.B Griffin, Black Ops, I liked it. Sarah is going to try reading it now, so we will see how she likes it. I started one today titled “Driving Loyalty” it is about Enterprise Car Rental and their business philosophy. I have only read a couple chapters but it is interesting.

We have seen a lot of friends since we have been here. Jim & Jo, they live in the Milwaukee area. Jim works as a guide at the Harley Davidson museum. They just bought a new home, it is beautiful. Jim showed me his Harley memorabilia collection and I must say I was in awe; a lot of it is autographed. It was fun spending the day with them.

Last Thursday we headed to New Lenox, IL, it is by Chicago to visit Tom & Cathy Gerdes. Tom looks great in spite of all the things he has been through and of course, Cathy looks fabulous in spite of putting up with Tom, she is an angel. We had a great day visiting and unsuccessfully trying to call a couple of old coworkers who evidently have caller ID and saw who was calling and didn’t answer their phones or call us back. Oh well, Tom we didn’t really need to talk with them anyway. We went to lunch at an Italian restaurant, I think it was Gatto’s Restaurant and Bar, great food. I had enough for two or more people the servings were huge. I love calamari, we ordered the small order and it was more than enough for four people. We had a great time.

I took my IPad with me to babysit last Friday and I saw on Facebook that Howard & Linda Payne, www.RV-Dreams.com, where in Rockford. We have know them for several years, they are partially responsible for us doing what we do today, full time RV. I called Howard and set a time to visit with them and have lunch. We ate at Granite City in Rockford, good food and the company was great. Our paths don’t cross that often so it was really good to see them.

Yesterday we went to Madison to see Debbie & Roger Mason, Roger and I worked together at Ruan many years ago. We watched the water skiers on the lake and had a great dinner at a Japanese restaurant, the name of which I don’t remember think was Muramoto. I love sushi and they had great sushi there. Our meals were very good, I had scallops, which I dearly love, and these were some of the best I have ever had. Thank you guys for a great time.

We are scheduled to head south Oct 14, I want to go to Truman’s library in Independence, MO, to the Eisenhower library in Abilene, KS, to Roswell, NM to see the aliens and Benson, AZ so Sarah can see a bead store she has heard a lot about. In all of that, we are scheduled into the Excel Service Center to get a slide adjusted. In addition, while in MO we want to see Steve & Lynne and family and see my newest great-niece Sophia Ross. I hope that we will be able to get all of this done over a two-week period. If not I can always see Roswell on the way back next spring.

I guess that is about all for now until next time;

Dreams Do Come True

Hidden Valley RV Resort, Milton, WI

We arrived here a week ago Weds, this is a very nice park, I think I reviewed it before. It is a bit pricey, I believe, but the park caters to the weekender and a lot of Illinois people. For the price, $799/mon, the Wi-Fi should be free and a lot better than what it is. I paid for a week and had difficulty connecting and the speed was horrible. In fact our IPhones and tablets would not connect. I finally called Millenicom and bought into their hotspot program for 20GB a month. I believe it should do the trick for us.

Baseball, I love baseball and we have seen a lot of it this past week, in fact it began the day we arrived. Mason was playing on three different teams, each a different level, and Madyson was playing on one team. Tournament time was beginning when we arrived, this is the reason we are here at this time, and we have not been disappointed. It is fun to watch the enthusiasm of the kids and to see them grow in the game each time they get on the field. You also see which kids really have no interest in playing baseball, but that is the reason for these leagues, not just to train the kids in the sport but to help all of them decide is this the game for me, it is not for all kids.

I remember when the kids were young, they played in a lot of different sports, the only one not liked was when Robert tried wrestling and quit after one match, it wasn’t his cup of tea. Tiffany tried basketball and volleyball, I don’t remember if she completed a season or not in those sports. Daniel never played basketball, I believe he would have been good at it, he did play football and baseball. Robert played football and baseball also, he also threw the shot in track, I believe. I don’t remember Tiffany or Daniel in track at all.

Back to Mason and Madyson, after many close games Mason won his first championship on Monday night, then on Weds night his other team won their championship. I told him he needed a shelf to put his trophies on and he informed me his other grandpa was making him a shelf to put the trophies on.

On Weds night also, Madyson had her championship game, it was a close one going into the fourth inning, they only play four innings, Madyson’s team was ahead by three, I believe. Each team is allowed a maximum of four runs per inning and so Madyson’s would have the last bat since they were the home team. So the top of the fourth the visiting team scored two runs. There were runners on 1st & 2nd, the next batter popped out to the first baseman, he tagged first to get the runner, then he threw to second and got that runner, a triple play to end the game and Madyson’s team won their championship.

Mason now plays on his third team, the Bombers, this weekend and I believe it is some type of tournament also. If I understand correctly this is a traveling team, they go to other towns in the area to play baseball mostly on weekends I would assume. I love this time of year. On Monday Mason begins football practice, full pads for 8 year olds. That will be fun to watch.

Other than baseball and visiting with the kids we haven’t been doing much. Jack & Bel, friends from our days in Marshall, came down and we had lunch and a great visit.

I am getting to the end of a good book, “Ike’s Bluff”, it is about Eisenhower’s time as president. I am enjoying the book and since he is the first president I remember in office it is interesting to read about what was going on at the time that I didn’t care anything about. What is really interesting is the shenanigans that went on in Washington at that time and how similar they are to what is going on today.

I saw where my Millenicom device is out for delivery so it is getting to be the time mail is delivered to the office, I best be getting up there to see if my package has arrived.

Dreams Do Come True